PITTSBURGH _ As Chad Kuhl overhauled his arsenal this season, he experienced mixed results. Sometimes the shift away from his sinker-slider pedigree to a four seam-curveball mix got outs. Sometimes he got hit around. Sometimes he fought himself on the mound.
"We're still kind of moving the pieces around on who he is, giving him the opportunity to go out and create, but watch him through experience create the guy who he can be," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "So I don't think we've got our fingerprint on that yet."
During Kuhl's best start of the season Thursday he looked a step closer to figuring it out. He pitched seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory to prevent the Cincinnati Reds from sweeping the Pirates at home.
Thursday he had success with the slider. Four of his six strikeouts came on the pitch, including Billy Hamilton twice. After Hamilton watched a slider outside for strike three in the fifth, he argued to the point that home-plate umpire Todd Tichenor threw him out.
Kuhl entered the game with a 4.84 ERA. He had pitched better in July, posting a 3.27 ERA in six starts _ one a three-inning emergency spot start when Jameson Taillon had food poisoning. In three starts after the break, he either gave up too many runs (four in six innings July 22) or did not complete the sixth inning.
"He's moving the chains. We still need pitch efficiency," Hurdle said. "The curveball started off as a very usable pitch, and there's been games it hasn't been used at all, and it's gone back to the slider, the four-seam fastball and the slider."
Kuhl was efficient Thursday: 96 pitches in seven innings. He allowed only four hits and two walks, both to Joey Votto.
At some point in his portions of two seasons in the major leagues, Kuhl has thrown a two- and four-seam fastball, a slider, a curveball and a changeup. The curveball replaced the slider early this season, while the four-seam took over the sinker as Kuhl found velocity that reached triple digits.
"To have five pitches, I think it's a nice arsenal to have," Hurdle said. "How many pitches does he need, I don't know if he needs five, but I'm not sure which three he needs, or four. And that's OK right now."
Pitching with an early lead didn't hurt Kuhl. David Freese and Starling Marte each had three hits, and Adam Frazier had two. The Pirates scored two runs in the first inning.
Marte's night was a good sign. He entered the game with five hits in his past 32 at-bats, but singled and scored in the first, doubled and scored in the third and singled and scored in the seventh.
The Pirates scored two runs on four hits against Sal Romano in the third. After Marte's leadoff double, Andrew McCutchen, Josh Bell and Freese all singled to extend their lead to 4-0. Freese's seventh-inning single drove in Marte again.
The victory prevented the Reds from winning nine of their first 10 games against the Pirates (52-56) this season.
Friday the San Diego Padres, who just took two of three against the Pirates in Petco Park last weekend, begin a three-game series in Pittsburgh. The Pirates will face the same three starters _ Travis Wood, Dinelson Lamet and Clayton Richard _ that they saw in San Diego.
